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Presentations to Honour County Winners

The winning villages in the 2006 Hertfordshire Village of the Year competition are to be honoured at two village based presentation ceremonies taking place on Saturday 22nd July. The first ceremony is being held in the village of Ickleford at 12.30pm on the village green. Ickleford is this year’s Village of the Year for West Hertfordshire and the overall winner of the competition. This will be followed by a ceremony in Hertford Heath – the Village of the Year for East Hertfordshire, which commences at 3pm outside the village hall.

Residents of both villages will gather to celebrate their success, joined by representatives of the other winning villages in this year’s competition, members of CPRE – The Hertfordshire Society, which organises the competition, competition judges and representatives of the county and district councils.

The Village of the Year Trophies will be unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of the County and President of CPRE – The Hertfordshire Society, Sir Simon Bowes Lyon, KCVO. Mike Shevlane of competition sponsor Calor and Hannah Fox representing Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) will present each winning community with a framed commemorative certificate.

(For the full results of this year’s competition please refer below.)

The competition is sponsored by Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), with additional support from Hertfordshire County Council. Also, thanks to continued competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this year, there is an extra £500 prize money which is going to the winners in the Building Community Life, Most Improved Community Life and Best Community Project sections of the competition as well to the winners of the Dorothy Abel Smith and Peterkin Awards.

As the overall winner of the competition, Ickleford will now go forward to represent the county in the prestigious national Calor Village of the Year® for England competition with the opportunity of gaining recognition at national level as well as a share in the prize fund totalling more than £39,000. Ickleford will be representing Hertfordshire in the East England region of the competition, competing against villages from Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

For further information and a full judges’ summary report / details of prize allocation, please contact Jo Simson on 01438 717587, email jo@cpreherts.org.uk or visit the CPRE - The Hertfordshire Society website (www.cpreherts.org.uk).

Photographs from both presentation ceremonies will be available w/c 24th July. To request a specific shot please contact Emma Flinn on 0161 817 4200, email emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk

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Further press information from: Emma Flinn, Flent PR, a Connectpoint Company
tel: 0161 817 4200 / email: emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

2006 Hertfordshire Village of the Year results –

Village of the Year West and overall winner: Ickleford

Village of the Year East: Hertford Heath

Small Village of the Year: Hexton

Building Community Life category winner: Pirton

Most Improved Community Life winner: Woolmer Green

Best Community Project: Ickleford

Business category winner: Brickendon Liberty

Young People category winner: Woolmer Green

Older People category winner: Barkway

Environment category winner: Birch Green

Information Communication Technology (ICT) category winner: Redbourn

Commendations:
Environment: Redbourn
Business: Hexton
Young People: Redbourn
Older People: Hertford Heath

Winner of the Dorothy Abel Smith Award for
Young People: Luke Stannard of Birch Green

Winner of the Peterkin Award: Helen Hofton of Pirton

CPRE - The Hertfordshire Society

1. CPRE - The Hertfordshire Society’s principal aim is to safeguard the natural environment of the county, especially the Green Belt and other protected areas. It also seeks to maintain the built environment, particularly historic settlements and buildings. The President is the Lord Lieutenant, Sir Simon Bowes Lyon, KCVO. CPRE - The Hertfordshire Society has over 1400 members.
2. CPRE – The Hertfordshire Society is the County Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). This national charity exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country. It has 60,000 supporters countrywide and is open to all.
3. Further information on CPRE – The Hertfordshire Society Village of the Year Competition can be obtained from Jo Simson on 01438 717587 or email jo@cpreherts.org.uk.

Calor Village of the Year®

Calor, the leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to those living and working in the countryside, has supported rural activities in England, Scotland and Wales for 20 years through its Rural Sponsorship programme, which includes the Calor Village of the Year® for England and Wales competitions and the Calor Scottish Community of the Year competition.

The Calor Village of the Year® for England competition, now in its tenth year, was founded and developed by Calor, and is organised and funded by the company on an annual basis.

Please note that Calor Village of the Year® is a registered trademark and should be referred to in full in all circumstances.

Entry to the Calor Village of the Year® for England competition is through the existing county competition network.

Following competition support in 2005, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is once again providing Calor with additional funding in 2006 to enhance the community life element of the competition through the Building Community Life category. Defra’s special aim is to encourage the inclusion of all groups and individuals into the fabric of rural community life - building cohesive and mutually supportive communities. Defra’s involvement means that every village in England has the opportunity to enter the 2006 Calor Village of the Year® for England competition.

The national Calor Village of the Year® judges look for well-balanced, pro-active, caring communities which, irrespective of size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all residents.

The prize money for the national Calor Village of the Year® for England competition alone stands at over £39,000. First prize is £7,000 with £2,000 going to each of five regional winners. In addition, there are five category prizes of £500 within each region (covering Business, Environment, Care for Older People, Care for Young People and Information Communications Technology), and a prize of £750 for the winner of the Building Community Life category in each of the five regions. The five regional winners of the Information Communication Technology category are judged to find an overall winner, the award for which is £1,000. There is also, thanks to the Defra support, a prize of £2,000 for an overall Building Community Life winner, which is selected from the five regional winners.

For general information on the Calor Village of the Year® for England and Wales competitions:
email: info@calorvillageoftheyear.org, tel: 01962 629768, or visit: www.calorvillageoftheyear.org

For more information on the Calor Scottish Community of the Year competition:
visit: www.communityoftheyear.co.uk

For more information on Defra:
visit: www.defra.gov.uk or for information specific to rural affairs visit: www.defra.gov.uk/rural/default.htm